IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Spring 2023 - 105

switching to improve transmission
efficiencies. Dr. Chen's presentation
was very well received by attending
students and SSCS members.
A second seminar was hosted at
the University of Utah on 1 December.
Presentations were given by
local chapter members Dr. Armin
Tajalli, University of Utah, and Dr.
Kent Layton, Onsemi.
Dr. Tajalli presented the latest
results on a new analog design methodology
from the Laboratory of Circuits
and Systems (LCAS), University of
Utah. Called C/ID, the proposed design
methodology addresses many issues
associated with existing approaches.
It was shown that the proposed
approach can significantly reduce the
computational complexity required
to analyze and optimize the design of
some basic analog circuits. The LCAS
team is now working to make design
and optimization scripts available to
the circuits community and hopefully
use them for analog design automation
purposes in the near future. For more
information, please refer to https://
lcas.ece.utah.edu/.
Dr. Layton presented " Simple Redundancy
in SAR ADCs, " which, as the
title suggests, introduced simplified
techniques for adding redundancy to
standard SAR ADC architectures. The
techniques were shown to significantly
reduce the settling time requirements
of the ADC reference to improve
conversion speed while limiting added
circuitry. Dr. Layton also shared SAR
ADC calibration techniques to reduce
matching requirements for higher-accuracy
ADCs. These techniques enable
smaller CDAC arrays, which, in turn,
reduces input and reference buffering
requirements.
Both seminars were excellent
opportunities for students, SSCS
members, and others to interact and
become reacquainted. Attendees
included engineers from local companies,
including Onsemi, Certus
Semiconductor, and Cirque.
-Kent Layton
T
IEEE SSCS/Electron Devices Society Bangladesh Joint Chapter
Organizes " VLSI Design Competition 2022 "
To develop the semiconductor industry
in any country, working knowledge
of VLSI circuit design is crucial. To
galvanize undergraduate students to
learn and work in the burgeoning field
of VLSI, a competition, " VLSI Design
Competition 2022, " was jointly organized
by the IEEE Solid-State Circuits
Society (SSCS)/Electron Devices Society
(EDS) Bangladesh Joint Chapter and
the Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering (EEE), Bangladesh
University of Engineering and Technology
(BUET). Neural Semiconductor
Limited (NSL), one of the premier semiconductor
companies in Bangladesh,
sponsored the competition by providing
financial and technical assistance.
The competition consisted of two
segments: a preliminary round and a
grand finale. A total of 26 teams composed
of about 78 undergraduate students
from 11 public and private universities
in Bangladesh took part in the
two-day competition. The preliminary
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSSC.2023.3269342
Date of current version: 22 June 2023
Participants solve problems during the competition.
round was held on 14 December 2022,
and the grand finale was on 18 December.
Twelve teams were selected from
the preliminary round to participate
in the grand finale. The result of the
grand finale was announced on 28
February 2023. Three teams were
named champion, first runner-up, and
second runner-up. Team Designer,
from BUET, was the winner. The award
ceremony started with a welcome
speech delivered by Dr. A.B.M. Harunur
Rashid, professor, Department of
EEE, BUET, and executive committee
member of the SSCS/EDS Bangladesh
Joint Chapter. The chief guest of
the program was Prof. Satya Prasad
Majumder, vice-chancellor, BUET. Faculty
members from other universities,
including BRAC University and United
International University, were present.
Shakhawat Hossain, chief operating
officer, NSL, gave a speech on the
prospects for the VLSI sector in Bangladesh
and the challenges faced by
the industry. Other speakers talked
about the importance of the semiconductor
industry and opportunities for
a developing country like Bangladesh
to tap into the VLSI market. All the participants
were given participation certificates.
Appreciation certificates were
IEEE SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS MAGAZINE
SPRING 2023
105
https://lcas.ece.utah.edu/ https://lcas.ece.utah.edu/ https://www.orcid.org/0009-0009-2628-9459
IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Spring 2023

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